pantomime
by k o u s e n
Summary: They hadn’t really meant for it to turn out how it did. »ROYED«


pantomime  
(--»_a drama played without words_)

RO**Y**ED.

---»

It hadn't started out as what it was now. Not many things do, though. It had started as a bad day and a depressed teen and a colonel being a little nicer than usual. Mustang had told him that if he ever wanted to talk, his house was always open to visitors. Ed had just given a half-hearted retort and walked out. But he took that comment seriously, and within three days he was standing on the colonel's front steps.

The first few times he stopped by, on his way home from the library, he was let in but he didn't move from right inside the door. He just stood there looking sad and dejected, but said nothing. Roy would stand a few feet away, leaning against the wall, waiting for an outburst. But after standing there for as long as he wanted, Ed would turn and leave.

It was like that for the first few weeks Ed stopped by. Roy never said anything, no sarcastic remark, the next day in the office. Maybe it was to show Ed he wasn't kidding about being willing to listen; maybe it was to keep Ed coming. And it did. And even though the first few weeks Ed stepped inside the door were spent in silence, he came every day and that was something.

It was exactly three weeks and four days before Ed said anything while at Roy's house; Roy'd been counting. He just said he didn't know why he was there. He looked up at Roy with the saddest eyes he could muster (though, Roy wasn't sure if it was on purpose or not). He turned and left after that, but he was back the next night.

It was that night, really, that was a breakthrough. Ed came in and slowly walked to the end of the hall and into the sitting room. He looked around, unsure if he even wanted to stay. Maybe he should just turn around and go back to the door… But he looked up and Roy was standing behind him with a _smile_ on his face, so he went over to a chair and sat down.

He didn't say anything more, and after nearly two hours, he left. The next night was different, as he walked in, sat down, and started going on about something that had pissed him off at work that day. Roy sat and listened and was finally _glad_ that someone had gotten through to him that it was okay to talk about his problems—in a civilized matter, that is.

His visits became nightly, arranged; at the same time each night. Sometimes Roy would have something to eat for him, so he would go on longer without stopping to complain about being hungry. Which he did a lot, Roy silently mused quite a bit. On nights he either had nothing to talk about, or finished ranting early, he would grab a book from Roy's 'library' (a very sad, tiny bookshelf) and read until he nearly fell asleep. But then, one night he did. And when he woke up the next morning, he rushed back to his dorms to find Alphonse pacing a whole in the floor.

He lied that he'd fallen asleep in the library, because Al would believe that. He said he did, but Ed knew he didn't. He left the subject alone anyway. He went back that night and curled up on the couch with a few books. It was when he started going on about how sad of a book collection the colonel had, when Roy walked over and kissed him. He'd struggled, his eyes wide, then he tensed and settled down, deciding, _what the hell,_ and kissing him back.

They hadn't _really_ meant for it to happen. He'd limped back to his dorms afterwards, but was back to his normal self by the time he'd gotten inside the door. Al asked what happened--why he was limping—and he'd just yelled, _Shut **up**, Al._ He didn't show at headquarters that day, but he showed up at Roy's that night, a little late.

It happened again and again, night after night. Ed started falling asleep on purpose and telling Al that the library had changed their hours and he'd lost track of time. But Al wasn't stupid and Ed knew that, but he told his lies anyway and went right on back to Roy.

They hadn't really meant for it to turn out how it did. They hadn't meant to fall in _love_. They hadn't meant for Al to find out, for the whole fucking military to find out. They hadn't meant for Winry to hit Ed over the head with a wrench because she was _so fucking pissed_; they hadn't meant to get a surprise party on their one year 'anniversary'. They hadn't meant to be _so damn happy_. They _really _hadn't meant for it to happen, but they were damn glad it had.

«---

ONE: this is the first EVAR  
ROYED I've written. so, yay.

TWO: sorry if you guys don't  
like my format Dx this is the  
format I use with my KH fics,  
and I couldn't leave it behind.

THREE: …nothing here, I just  
like to show off that I can  
count to 3.


End file.
